CHRISTIAN Democratic Party president Dan Pule has said the mismanagement of the agriculture sector by the Patriotic Front (PF) Government has led to the high levels of poverty which has resulted into many families failing to buy a bag of mealie-meal.

Dr Pule said the PF Government has plunged the country into serious poverty because it had mismanaged the agriculture sector from the input level to the marketing of maize which was the staple food and also the poor utilization of the Food Reserve Agency (FRA).

He said yesterday at his offices at Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) in Kitwe that the PF Government’s decision to remove subsidies on maize was a poor political move which resulted into the increase of mealie-meal prices. “There is so much poverty in the country such that many families cannot afford to buy a bag of mealie-meal. The high poverty levels in the country are because of the mismanagement of the agriculture sector by the PF Government.

“There is so much mismanagement of the agriculture sector by the PF Government starting from the input level to the marketing of maize which is a staple food,” Dr Pule said. He said once voted into government, his party would reduce the cost of mealie-meal through efficient management of the agriculture sector.

Dr Pule said his party would also efficiently manage the supply and delivery of inputs on time to avoid late supply of inputs which may result into high costs of maize and poor yield.

“As Christian Democratic Party, we want to effectively manage the agriculture sector so that we promote food security and alleviate poverty in the country. We are a party that wants to reduce poverty in this country. We will correct all the mistakes made by the PF government,” he said. Dr Pule also said his party would introduce free education from Grade one to Grade 12 where there would be compulsory teaching of the Bible in Public Schools.

“We want to have compulsory teaching of the Bible in public schools which is a word of God because we want pupils to understand the word of God so that they stay away from sin and do things which are desirable in the eyes of God,” he said.